Capital Bound: Reaping
-Rachel:
I file on stage next to Haymitch as the past victors of District Twelve are read off. The only names given are our own. Haymitch and I both sigh and sulk back into our chairs as the Treaty of Treason is read. Basically it says that since the Districts revolted against the Capital seventy three years ago, we are being punished by participating in the Hunger Games. Since it's the first time mentoring for me I look over the hundreds of kids gathered in the square, two of them we will mentor. I glance over and see Haymitches eyes drooping; I quickly elbow him in the gut.
"What is it over?" He asks
"No, but at least stay awake" I hiss.
"touchy" he rolls his eyes at me.
I watch as Effie Trinket, our districts escort, makes her way over to the boys reaping ball. "Men first!" she trills in her usual happy voice. Was it really just a year ago that she drew Peeta's name out of that very ball? Was it really that long ago that I volunteered so I could save him? It must be, but it seems like it's been a lifetime. But every day without Peeta lasts forever, and now that he's gone, every day is like a nightmare that I'm constantly reminded of him. I close my eyes and take deep breaths as I was instructed to do when I felt like I would break, that's what the doctors told me to do.
"Saga Dell!" Effie calls out, I allow my eyes to open and see the boy making his way over to the stage. I study him; he's not big, but not small either, he's a boy from the Seam, but he looks to be well fed. Wavy black hair and clear blue eyes, just like-
I snap my eyes shut again, thinking of Peeta, but the darkness of my mind shows me his face, shows me Peeta's loving eyes. I have to open my eyes again though, so I can shake Saga's hand. I do this; he gives me a firm shake and a blunt nod of his head. Then Effie goes over to the girl's ball. I wonder what she's thinking we she does this? Then again, I wonder what goes through that big head of hers all the time, it's a scary thought, so I throw it out. Effie quickly pulls out a name and goes to the podium, "Ginger Monroe!" Effie calls out. I make out the group of girls who start hugging one another, then one girl breaks away and walks towards the stage. She's also a Seam girl, but not well fed. She's tiny, weak, and frail. She's a bloodbath death for sure.
After shaking her hand the anthem plays, then Haymitch and I make our way to the train as the tributes get to say their goodbyes. "Saga might go far" I comment not really directing the question to Haymitch, more to me.
"Yeah, he can if he knows how to us a weapon. I think Ginger is a bloodbath though" my father grumbles.
"Same thought here" I point to my own head, which brings a grin on Haymitches face.
The next morning I'm the first one into the dining car. I'm guessing Saga and Ginger are still in bed; Effie should be waking them up soon. And my father is most likely out cold since he got drunk again last night, no surprise there.
I look out the window, by the looks of things we should be in the Capital by this afternoon. Then tributes get to meet their stylists and the victors have a get together thing. Which is good, I get to see Chaff, Seier, and everyone else. And that means Finnick too; I can't wait to see Finnick Odair. My best friend, well, more like my big brother, adopted of course.
I look over and see Saga walk in,
"Good morning" I greet him with a halfhearted smile; I never really smile since Peeta's death.
"Good morning, whats today's plans?" Saga asks in his deep voice.
"We should be in the Capital by noon, then you meet your stylists and they work on you until tonight when you have opening ceremonies."
Saga just nods as he starts to devour his plate of food before him. I go back to my own, eating it slowly. Soon enough Ginger walks in, she doesn't even say hello, just sees the food and starts to stuff her face right away.
My estimations are correct and we pull into the train station at noon. I stop our tributes right before we exit to go into the training tower, since Haymitch is in mega hangover and isn't much help.
"Ignore the cameras, don't look scared, they take note of that, they take note of everything, just keep walking and don't make eye contact with any of them or they'll pounce on you with questions." I say quickly.
"It sounds like we're going through a pack of wild dogs." Ginger laughs, I don't laugh back, "treat them like they are" I say before literally shoving the door open and bounding out. I motion for my tributes to stay close as I walk through the way cleared for us by peacekeepers to get inside. Many shouts are made out to me, I ignore them all, even the ones of "how are you doing without Peeta", I don't let those affect me; I have a job to do.
Once safely inside Effie takes over. She walks off with Saga and Ginger so they can go meet Cinna and Portia. Which just leaves Haymitch and I to go to the victor's room, at three, so I have three hours. I don't even say bye to my father cause he'll forget right after I tell him where I am going. I can't go outside, so I just go to the victor's room early.
I push open the door to find that the room is empty, good, I need time by myself. I go and sit on a couch that is placed in front of one of the many television screens throughout the room. I put my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. I just close my eyes and sit there; I allow my tense muscles to relax slowly. Soon I fall asleep on the couch.
-Finnick:
I run to the elevator after the district four escort takes my tributes away to meet their stylists. I quickly press the four button and zoom upwards. I love being one of the first districts to arrive, and I love being the first person from my district to our floor. Now I get to pick my room, which I change every single year just to annoy our escort, Philia. She thinks we should use the same room every year, and I don't like her, so I don't listen to her rules.
I sprint down the hallway like a little kid and press the button on the outside of the door on the end of the hallway. It dispenses two keys for me to the room, one for me, and another, which is supposed to be spare, that I will give to Rachel. I quickly open the door and then fling the bag I was carrying onto the bed. There perfect, I go back outside and lock the door, now what?
I decide to go to the victor's room, maybe someone else will be there.
I'm delighted to see Rachel on one of the couches when I open the door, and I'm about to yell her name and run over when I realize she's asleep. Poor kid, she's had so much happen to her in the past year, and now she has to mentor. I walk over and slowly lift her up and sit down so she leans against me. Then I hold her there, comforting her. I guess she feels herself being moved because not even a minute later her eyes open. When they see my face I'm more than pleased with her reaction.
The light that has been gone since she became victor floods into her eyes and a huge smile crosses her face, an actual real smile. "Finnick!" She cheers like I'm the best Christmas present in the world and throws her arms around me. Then we just sit there for a while, arms wrapped around each other.
"I missed you" she whispers
"Missed you more" I tease back
"Impossible"
I laugh and pull her up, "Come on, I want to know everything's that's happened and you're not leaving out anything!" I say in a high pitched voice so I sound like a little girl and use pointless hand motions. Rachel bursts out laughing, "One, I haven't been this happy in a long time."
I put my hand under my chin and stare at her, "and twooooooo?" I ask in the same ridiculous voice as before. Her expression changes, like she's thinking something important over, she shakes her head.
"Nothing, nothing you should worry about." She grins, I shrug it off.
-Rachel:
I almost tell Finnick everything about Snow's visit. But I realize that knowing this could only hurt him, so I lie and say nothing else is wrong.
Other victors start to arrive once Finnick finishes telling me a story about how he wrestled with a shark, I go and hug Seeder and Seier, who arrive together even though they are from different districts. Within minutes all of my adopted family is there. I get a look at Enobaria, whose son I will be meeting at some point, she just gives me smug grins. That's great; she knows what's going on.
Haymitch spends his time drinking with Chaff, and soon even Finnick is drunk. As I sit by myself on a couch Brutus comes over, he grins.
"How's lover boy? Visited his grave recently?" He sneers.
"Every single day" I spit out, it's true, I do go every single day I can. I remember the first time I went:
*Flashback*
I sigh as I stand before the entrance to the graveyard of District Twelve's fallen tributes. Their all here, every one of them who didn't win. But I'm here to see one, one that reads, "Peeta Mellark: Strong until the end." Slowly I trudge through the graveyard, making my way towards the back where I know it will be.
I stop as I come before the square polished stone. Slowly I read the words aloud,
"Peeta Mellark: Strong until the end. Loving brother and friend, never forgotten. 3256-3272" I fall to my knees before the gravestone. It's too much to bear, knowing that the boy I still love is underneath me, buried, dead, cold, inside a nailed shut casket and the sword probably laid to rest beside him. I start thinking of an old song, it's sometimes sung at funerals. Never planned though, people say it's not appropriate unless the spouse of the dead is there. Peeta had no spouse, so it wasn't sung at his, and I wasn't there for his. I was either still in the arena or in the Capital. I take a shaky breath before I sing to him:
"Deep in the meadow, under the willow Here it's safe, here it's warm Deep in the meadow, hidden far away Here it's safe, here it's warm
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your eyes
And when again they open, the sun will rise
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away
Here the daisies guard you from every harm
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true
Here is the place where I love you"
As I finished it started to drizzle, I heard footsteps and looked behind me.
"He loved that song you know" Quil Mellark, Peeta's brother tells me, I nod. Quil walks over and sits next to me; he puts his hands on my shoulders.
*Flashback End*
"That's great, I'm so proud of Cato still, he did a very good job." Brutus laughs, he can't even react as I slap him across the face. Pissed isn't even close to what Brutus looks like after I slap him. No, he's way passed pissed at me, more like he looks like he wants to rip my limbs off. The scary part is, he probably can.
I shoot up and make a break for the door before he grabs the back on my shirt and twists it so my air is blocked off. "Haymi-"I choke out; Brutus lifts me off the ground and twists his wrist so I look him in the eyes.
"You're a sorry excuse for a victor, aren't you?" he soothes as I feel my face changing colors. As a last ditch effort I spit in his face. I feel his massive hand slam into the side of my head and an instant later I'm thrown into the wall and crash to the floor.
I just lay there for a while, and when I look up I'm surprised to see Haymitch, Chaff, and Brutus in an all-out brawl.
I feel a hand on my shoulders and I flinch, expecting Enobaria or another Career to belt me one. But no, it's Finnick.
"We should get out of here" he whispers, I nod and we sneak out the door just as some peacekeepers file in.
The opening ceremonies are a success. Cinna and Portia worked their magic again and dressed our tributes as coals burning over a fire. The crowd loved them; even so, I sent them right off to bed after dinner.
I lightly finger the long scrap down the right side of my face where I collided with the wall. It hurts still, but not nearly as much as actually hitting the wall did. I grin as Finnick comes up and playfully swipes my hand away from my face.
"Come on, I want to talk." He says, he actually sounds serious, so I agree and follow him to the elevator. Once the doors close he presses something into my hand, "the key" he explains.
"Thanks, I'm glad you're still my friend"
"I'll always be your friend, no matter what."
As we reach the fourth floor Finnick leads me to his room and lets me inside, I plop myself down on his bed. Finnick locks the door then gets right to the point.
"Did Snow visit you, like, at home?"
I'm taken aback by the question. I want to tell Finnick, I really do, but I can't. I don't want him to get hurt; I don't want him to suffer because of me. So I lie once again to him.
"No? Was he supposed to?" I act surprised
Finnick comes over and kneels in front of me, "I know your lying to me, what did he say, he always comes to the new victors."
I can't hold his gaze, so I look down to the floor. "I can't tell you," I whisper. He lifts my chin gently so I have to look at him.
"Tell me" he urges.
"No Finn! I can't!" I burst out at him; he wraps his arms around me.
"Okay, then you don't have too" he sooths.
"How are the nightmares?" he changes the subject, I'm glad he does, I don't want to have to tell him about Zapher.
"They still come, every night." And that's true, they come, I wake up, tense with fear, then say 'that was scary' then I just sit and tell myself it's all just a dream, I tell myself they are dead, I did kill them, Peeta is dead, but they can't hurt me through dreams. Then I go back to sleep, just to be visited again.
"Then stay here" he whispers.
A few minutes later I lie in Finnick's bed while he turns out the light and removes his shirt. He crawls in next to me and wraps his arms around me. I always feel safer when he's protecting me from the nightmares.
"Night Finn"
"Goodnight."